holiday touring

Tags

common courtesy, holiday touring, nano poblano, tagged, team pepper

Merbear tagged me for this Holiday Touring thingy. Seeing as this is WAY more interesting than anything else I could write about right now, I’ll just entertain y’all with this.

So my holiday is April 20 aka National Weed Day. Oh boy…

1. How many nugs would you smoke on this holiday, if you partook in such a deplorable pastime? Definitely not deplorable, just not something I can do anymore. I was never the one in charge of obtaining the party supplies or loading the pipe, so I’m not sure how large your average nug is. I can say that it didn’t usually take a whole hell of a lot to get me to trip balls.

2. Would you see unicorns prancing in the meadow, or something else? I pretty well never saw things from it, though it had a very predictable effect on me. Munchies, horny, paranoid – in that order, every fucking time. Oddly enough, the only thing I’d be paranoid about was making too much noise while having sex and having the neighbors hear.

3. What sort of marijuana edible would you make to celebrate this holiday, thereby fortifying the snack industry? I’ve never done edibles, mostly because we could never afford to buy a whole lot at once, but brownies have always sounded good.

So now I guess I find my own holiday and two other bloggers to tag. According to the Days of the Year website, my birthday happens to be Common Courtesy Day.

Politeness and consideration for others abound on Common Courtesy Day. Say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, hold doors open for others, and consider the feelings and perceptions of those around you throughout the day.

Here are my questions:
1. Do you think Common Courtesy is dead? Why or why not?
2. Should Common Courtesy be limited to just one day? Maybe this isn’t a limit, but just a day to really embrace it and remind those who don’t practice it that they really should?
3. What other practices do you think should be considered Common Courtesy?

I’ll be tagging heretherebespiders and WeeGee, mostly because I’d do anything to hear more from them. ❤

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so much to tell, so little time to tell it

Tags

Evie Cat, family, friends, nano poblano, team pepper, the kid

Do you see that? No room for Mama on her own damn bed. Lousy little ingrates.

I’m way behind schedule right now since I kind of slept in. I had thought I’d be able to get all the way through catching up on blog reading and comments and what not, but I really probably should think about showering and breakfast and stuff as I’ve got a busy day ahead. Josh’s daughter comes over this weekend and my BFF is going to come up with her daughter, who is just slightly older than the kid, we’re going to have lunch and then go thrift store shopping. Tonight I think Josh is dragging us to his dad’s house, though I don’t know that for sure. And I still have homework to do, and laundry, and other housework.

A mama’s work is just never done.

an open letter to E, on her 7th birthday

Tags

family, grateful, love, nano poblano, team pepper

I remember the day you were born. We had all been waiting so eagerly to finally meet you. It was cold that morning. Your momma wasn’t doing well with being pregnant and they had to get you out fast. Grandma wouldn’t let me come to the hospital until she knew you were ok. You were beautiful, and perfect, and you let me hold you. I loved you from the minute I laid eyes on you.

I remember when you were 6 months old, how you cried constantly. The doctors finally figured out that your skull had fused too soon. They operated and fixed it, and they shaved your beautiful curls. We didn’t know how much damage had been done. But you bounced back right away and you hardly cried at all after that.

You were the most beautiful child, you still are. So sweet and so smart and so into everything. You were my best little buddy. And every time I saw you I fell in love all over again.

You’re growing up into a smart and talented girl. You do things now that I’ve never been able to do. You’re kind and funny and you have a great sense of who you want to be.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that there’s something you can’t do or that you’re not good enough. You can do anything and be anything and go anywhere you want. And I will be right there cheering you on.

I love you with all my heart Baby Bear, and I always will.

Love,

Aunt Erin

 

gobble gobble

Tags

consumeristic society sucks, family, holidays, life, love, nano poblano, random shit that falls out of my brain, shopping, team pepper

And now it really begins – the official start of the holiday shopping season.

It’s disgusting if you ask me. There are stores here that are open right now, on Thanksgiving, offering special sales. And tomorrow, Black Friday, damn near everywhere will open early and stay open late and if you’re lucky, you can get a $4 DVD player.

But will any of that shit really make you happy?

Instead of embracing the consumer culture that we seem to have gotten sucked into, how about spending time enjoying your family and/or friends? Maybe share a special meal together and then take a nice nap on the sofa. Swap jokes, play card games, look at old photos, take new photos, reminisce about the old days, enjoy the simple act of talking to people you care about.

Love each other. None of us really knows how much time we have left. Enjoy every minute of it while you can.

and so it begins

Tags

christmas, music, nano poblano, team pepper

I’ll be decorating the office for Christmas today so I decided to relent and lift the ban on Christmas music. That bit above is an incredibly funny story, not really a video. But totally worth the 23 minutes to listen to all of it.

If you’d rather go with something a little edgier, give this one a try. (the video for this is ridiculously funny)

I may try to post some pics of the office later, we’ll see how it goes.

Church of the Snowflake

Tags

be nice, church of the snowflake, mama's religion of choice, nano poblano, team pepper

In light of the holidays fast approaching, and my firm belief in the goodness we all have within us, I thought we would all go to church together this morning.

We recognize that every person is a unique individual and is allowed to hold whatever beliefs seem right to her/him. The only rule is that while you’re practicing your preferred beliefs you need to BE NICE. You want to pray to the Christian God? Great, just be nice. You want to honor the Sabbath? Terrific, be nice to the people you meet at the temple. You want to orient yourself in a specific direction and send your prayers to a place you think is really special? That’s awesome, just be nice while you do it. Don’t push your beliefs on others, don’t belittle their beliefs, and above all, BE NICE. Don’t send me your money, we don’t do that here. Just be nice, as often as you can to as many people as you can. BE NICE.

life worth living weekly update

Tags

building a life worth living, DBT, getting creative, goals, health, nano poblano, school, stress management, taking charge of my finances, team pepper

If you’re just joining me for the first time, I’ve got a list of 10 Major Goals I want to accomplish before I turn 40 in 2016. That’s what I refer to as my Life Worth Living; it’s a DBT thing. If you don’t want to stay stuck where you’ve been in life, you have to figure out where you want to go and what it would take to truly make your life worth living.

Every week I do a Creative, Stress Management, Health, Financial, and School goal that tie back to my Building a Life Worth Living project. Bit by bit I’m reaching for the stars.

Update from last week:

Creative – I’m going to combine this with the Financial goal this week. I need to finalize my list of what I’m making for the few folks who are getting Christmas gifts, make sure I have all of the supplies I need, and then get started. Also, keep working on the rose doily. That needs to be done by the end of November.

I did some of the planning. It was only some because I’m still not entirely sure what to do for the small people. I figured out a few pieces though and I do have more than adequate supplies. I didn’t really get started though and I wasn’t able to crochet at all. My thumb is still super tender.

Stress Management – Spend at least 45 minutes doing something I find relaxing every night that isn’t electronic. Reading, sketching, knitting, crocheting, Legos, Nanoblocks – whatever. I have plenty of things to keep myself busy with that don’t require any electricity beyond having a light turned on.

This was much more of a success. Need to keep working on it tough.

Health – Time to get back to hitting the self-care routines hard and heavy. This week I want to specifically focus on:

• Brush and floss at least once each day – yes, except Saturday
• Be aware of the food and drink choices I’m making; I’m not going to try documenting everything again just yet, but I want to be more cognizant of what goes in my mouth – yes, and I kind of suck at eating healthy
• Take a full shower every day (washing my hair is optional, the rest is not) – yes, except Saturday
  
• Apply the topical antibiotic at least once each day – oh hell
• Do the Hibiclens routine at least every other day – dammit!!!

I have all of the necessary supplies in the necessary places to make this as easy as possible. I even have a back-up bottle of Hibiclens on hand, just in case. There really shouldn’t be any excuses. Trying again…

School – Continue to work on getting/staying ahead. Next week is Thanksgiving so there’s very little due anyway but I want to take advantage of how slow it will be at work to get as far ahead as possible. I also need to start getting some work done on my portfolio. The content is up to date as of the last class I took (the one in the spring), but I’m thinking the look needs to be updated a little.

I’m having a really hard time getting my team mates for this project motivated to do anything and it’s really pissing me off.

Goals for this week:

Because this week will be so odd for me – 3 days at work that will mostly be quiet, Thanksgiving itself, spending Friday with the nieces, and then having the kid over for the weekend – I’m not actually doing to set any concrete goals. I know the things I need to stay on top of for my health and that’s the most important place for me to focus.

pay it forward

Tags

be the good, charity, nano poblano, pay it forward, random acts of kindness, team pepper

We’re coming into a rough season for a lot of folks. Some of us are still dealing with memories of loved ones lost. Some of us are battling demons inside our bodies. And some of us are struggling to keep the lights on, the roof over our head, and some food on the table.

I am fortunate enough to have what I have, and I know that. I try very hard not to take my riches for granted, ever. What this means for me is that when the opportunity presents itself for me to make a difference, however small, in someone elses life – I jump on it. And I would encourage you to do the same.

Go through your cupboards and see if you have some extra food that you can donate to a food pantry. Make a monetary donation to a charity that supports a cause you believe in. Volunteer at a soup kitchen.

There is no end to the need and there are unlimited ways you can help.

If you have two cookies and the person next to you has none, give them one of your cookies. The one you eat will taste better for it, I guarantee.

Be the good

holy crap, what a day!

Tags

charity, christmas, getting creative, nano poblano, organization, team pepper

Another craft project, yay! This one has been in the works for awhile now, at least a week. I found the idea on Pinterest and then all of us got in on the action. They’re going to be our primary (only?) outside winter decorations, aside from a wreath on the front door I think.

Today has been wall to wall busy. Mom and I went out for breakfast, ran to 3 different grocery stores – taking time to get supplies for a food drive going on for one of the homeless shelters at the one store – then Target to get supplies for the girls’ birthdays (there was a local motorcycle club there at the time buying the place out of frozen turkeys to donate to some charity, we weren’t sure which one), cleaned out and organized the deep freeze and both fridges/freezers and the kitchen pantry, plus we got out the Christmas decorations we’ve decided to put up this year and got the tree put together so that when the girls come over next Friday they can decorate it.

Whew.

Josh just left to pick up what is, in my humble little opinion, some of the very best pizza in this area. It should go nicely with the SEVEN containers of ice cream we currently have. And no, they aren’t mostly empty – I think most of them have been purchased within the last week.

When we were getting the Christmas stuff out I found my stash of cards. This is no shit – it fills a plastic shoe box. So honestly kids, doesn’t anyone want a card from me?

another goofy craft

Tags

getting creative, nano poblano, team pepper

You’re probably going to notice that the closer it gets to the holidays, the more I want to “nest” by doing craft projects. Too bad for you poor bastards, you’re going to see ALL of them! BWAHAHAHAHA!

This is my latest creation which was not an original thought. I swiped the idea from here, and she apparently swiped it from someone else. Because that’s how the interwebs work, yo.

These are glass marble glitter magnets. I used the large, flat glass floral marbles, E9001 adhesive, glitter glue, and super strong magnets. The lady I got the idea from had her kids paint glue on the back of the marbles and dip then in different kinds of glitter. That sounded way too fucking messy to me.

naked marbles, glitter glue, nasty paint brush

 

turd-esque glob of glitter glue on the back of a marble

 

you get the idea

I ended up doing 3 coats of glitter glue to get the right density. Once everything was totally dry I put a little dab of the E9001 on the back and topped it with a magnet. Voila. The downside is that it did take several days because I was doing this at night and had to let the glitter shit dry before putting on another coat. But it was a hell of a lot easier using that glitter glue than having bowls of glitter sitting out. I’m also thinking this would work well with nail polish, if you have a stash of that around. I’m actually contemplating trying that this weekend. With the nail polish you could probably get some nifty marbling effects with drops of different colors swirled with a toothpick.